The front page of the Sun newspaper has infuriated mental health
campaigners with the front page headline “1,200 killed by mental
patients”.

Although the full story stresses many of the "high risk
patients" who committed murder over the last decade were let down by the
system, charities and MPs accused the newspaper of stigmatising those
who suffered from ill health.

Labour’s health team wrote
on Twitter that the front page “disgracefully reinforced” stigma, while
Rethink Mental Illness wrote "Dear @TheSunNewspaper the number of
homicides by ppl w/mental health problems has gone *down*. Front page is
irresponsible & wrong."

Sue Baker, director of
mental health awareness charity Time to Change wrote “We are still
picking up the pieces from terrible headlines 'mad psycho killers' mid
to late 90s. Whatever the agenda this coverage harmful.”

Alistair
Campbell tweeted: “Constant media linkage of violence and mental
illness leads to violence against the mentally ill rather than by them.
#stigma #timetochange.”

The Sun was also criticised for
not giving enough space to figures that showed those suffering from
mental illness are up to ten times more likely to be the victim of a
crime than the average person.

Paul Burstow MP ‏wrote:
“Truth is people with mental health problems more likely to be victims
of crime NOT perpetrators of crime."

The Sun’s managing
editor Stephen Abell defended the paper’s coverage of the figures,
tweeting: "But read full copy: call for better communication between
agencies; piece by m-health charity; story on ill as victims?"

However
Sue Baker replied: “it is the front page headline that will fuel
stigma. Appreciate the inclusion of Mind comment but outweighed.”

In
a statement to the Independent, Sue Baker, Paul Farmer, Chief Executive
of Mind and Paul Jenkins, Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness
said:“It’s incredibly disappointing to see a leading newspaper splash
with such a sensational and damaging headline.

"The
figures used are disputable: in the article itself, it’s acknowledged
that the numbers of homicides by people with mental illness has actually
stayed the same for decades.

"In fact some studies
suggest that the numbers have gone down in recent years. There are 1.2
million people using secondary mental health services – the vast
majority of whom pose no threat to anyone. And in reality, people with
mental health problems are more likely to be victims of crime than the
general population.

"We can’t afford for the call for
improvements in mental health care to be led by a stigmatising debate
focused on tragic but very rare incidents of violence.

"This
headline, which will be seen by millions of people today, creates a
completely false picture which will only fuel the stigma and prevent
more people from seeking help and support when they need it, including
when they are in crisis.

"We urge all media outlets to
use extreme caution when reporting issues like this, and ask that they
look at the guidelines produced by Time to Change, the anti-stigma
campaign run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.”

Figures from Time to Change show people with mental health problems
are more dangerous to themselves than they are to others. Actually 95
per cent of homicides are committed by people who have not been
diagnosed with mental health problems.

Additionally
numbers show that the number of murders committed by people diagnosed
with mental health problems has stayed at a fairly constant level since
the 1990s.